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McLaren Automotive, the creator of luxury sports and super cars from Surrey, England, has appointed Dr. Jens Ludmann as Chief Operating Officer (COO) effective from May 2, 2017. He will report to Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mike Flewitt.

Dr. Ludmann joins McLaren in the second year of its Track22 business plan to focus on further developing internal working processes, relationships, and disciplines. His departmental responsibilities will include Product Development, Purchasing, Supplier Quality Assurance and Manufacturing, overseeing the launch of a further 14 new models or derivatives during the next five years. Previous roles include Chief Engineer Product Development at Ford Motor Company, Chief Technical Officer at Qoros Auto, and most recently Executive Vice President of the global engineering service provider FEV GmbH.

Mike Flewitt said of the appointment: “Jens brings a broad and global wealth of experience from across the Automotive industry, having worked in several senior technical and leadership roles. I feel with Jen’s successful track record of managing and developing businesses, creating and enhancing teams and driving profitability, he is absolutely the right person to fulfil the COO role for McLaren Automotive.”

Dr. Ludmann replied: “It is a real privilege to be asked to join the leadership team of a company as innovative and exciting as McLaren Automotive. Its rapid rise to success is unparalleled in the automotive world and I can’t wait to be part of the next chapter which starts now with the launch of the second-generation Super Series. The new 720S is an amazing car, one which I am very much looking forward to driving.”

Cars and driving are both passions of Dr. Ludmann, who holds an International C Race Licence and regularly competes in the challenging Nürburgring 24 Hours race. He is also currently restoring a 1965 Land Rover Series II.

The COO role at McLaren Automotive has been latent since July 2013 when Mike Flewitt, previously COO from June 2012, was appointed CEO.

Ends

Notes to Editors:

A selection of high resolution images accompanying this release is available to download from the McLaren Automotive media site – cars.mclaren.press

About McLaren Automotive:

McLaren Automotive is a British manufacturer of luxury, high-performance sports and super cars, located at the McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) in Woking, Surrey. For the past 30 years, McLaren has pioneered the use of carbon fibre in vehicle production and since introducing a carbon chassis into racing and road cars with the 1981 McLaren MP4/1 and 1993 McLaren F1 respectively, McLaren has not built a car without a carbon fibre chassis.

Following the global launch of McLaren Automotive in 2010, the groundbreaking 12C was revealed in 2011, the 12C Spider in 2012, and the limited-run McLaren P1™ went into production in 2013. In keeping with its plan to introduce a new model each year, the company unveiled the 650S, in Coupé and Spider form in 2014, while 2015 proved to be a year of unprecedented growth of the product portfolio with five new models launched across the full range. The strictly limited edition 675LT Coupé premiered at the Geneva Motor Show alongside the track-only McLaren P1™ GTR which, with 1,000PS, became the most powerful model ever produced by the brand. The much-anticipated Sports Series became the third – and final – model tier in the McLaren range with the 570S Coupé and 540C Coupé debuting in New York and Shanghai respectively, less than one month apart. The end of 2015 saw the launch of the fifth model, the 675LT Spider, which was as a direct response to customer demand. The year also saw the end of production for the first model in the Ultimate Series as the 375th McLaren P1™ was completed, closing what had become a defining year for the British brand. 2016 continued where 2015 had left off with the introduction of the 570GT - a second bodystyle for the Sports Series and the most luxurious car McLaren has ever built, as well as the 570S GT4 and 570S Sprint track variants. 2016 also marked the introduction of the company’s new business plan, Track22, which sees the company investing £1B in Research and Development to deliver 15 all new cars or derivatives by the end of 2022, of which at least 50% will feature hybrid technology. The uplift in sales in 2016 also saw the launch of the second shift at the McLaren Production Centre as well as the company’s third year of profitability in just six years of trading. In March 2017, the second-generation Super Series was introduced at the Geneva Motor Show with the global premiere of the McLaren 720S.

McLaren Automotive Partners To support the development, engineering and manufacture of its range of innovative and highly acclaimed sports cars, McLaren Automotive has partnered with world leading companies to provide specialist expertise and technology including, AkzoNobel, Kenwood, Pirelli, Richard Mille and SAP.